Shijie Xu

About

Shijie Xu, is a metal artist, digital artist, object maker. He completed his BA in Fashion Accessories Design at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in China.

In an interdisciplinary context and his passion for philosophy and humanistic sociology, throughout his studies in jewellery , fashion and contemporary art practice, he have developed a profound understanding of material properties: this is reflected in his hands-on experience with a variety of material experiments, including the use of ready-mades, visual innovations and interactive virtual materials. Beyond this, he have delved into the historical trajectory of metal and material usage, viewing it through various disciplinary lenses and recognising its integral role in human history.

Shijie’s research in RCA focus on the shaping of dietary identities in a political narrative context. In the current era of pursuit of equality, respect for multiculturalism and change against exploitation, in the face of traditional dining culture with strong class attributes, by making contemporary design of traditional tableware, which blur the boundaries between jewellery and dishes, to enable diners to critically think about what they eat and the way they use tableware.

In the first set of designs, he blurred the line between jewellery and tableware. When the person or the diner himself wears the tableware, one part of his body becomes the food being eaten, and the other part of his body becomes the jewellery and the tableware itself. As one eats, one is in a sense also being eaten by oneself, or by others.

In the second set of design, he replaced the functional and decorative parts of three common cutlery. The critical design of the objects makes the diner visually appear to be consumed in reverse while using the reversal cutlery. It makes people rethink their dining identity.

I hope that through the transformation of the contradiction between subject and object and the deconstruction of active and passive behavior, people can critically think about the identity relationship between our bodies, objects and environment in the context of political narrative.